3. Years of Thomas Shepard
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Shepard
House.
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In October, Mr. Thomas Shepard,
whose name holds a conspicuous place in the annals of New England, arrived at
Boston, together with the people who were to form his pastoral charges. On the
first of February 1635, [1636 new style] the first permanent church was gathered
at Newtown. Mr. Shepard, and “divers other good christians,” intending
to form a church, communicated their design to the magistrates, who gave their
approbation. Application was also made to all the neighbouring churches, “for
their elders to give their assistance at a certain day at Newtown, where they
should constitute their body.” A great assembly accordingly convened, and
the church was organized in a public and solemn manner. (25)
The ordination of Mr. Shepard probably took place soon after this organization
of the church; but the precise time cannot now be ascertained “It was deferred,”
says Dr. Mather, “until another day, wherein there was more time to go through
the other solemnities proper to such an occasion.”
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Historic
Marker (1971), located at main entrance to the Ancient Burying Ground
in Hartford.
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Early in the summer of 1636,
Mr. Hooker, Mr. Stone, and about a hundred men, women, and children, composing
the whole of Mr. Hooker’s church and congregation, left Newtown; and travelled
above a hundred miles, through a hideous and trackless wilderness, to Connecticut.
“They had no guide but their compass; made their way over mountains, through
swamps, thickets and rivers, which were not passable but with great difficulty.
They had no cover but the heavens, nor any lodgings but those which simple nature
afforded them.” (26)
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Thomas Hooker's
grave. The inscription on his tomb is as follows:
In Memory of the REV. THOMAS HOOKER
who in 1636 with his assistant Mr. Stone removed
to Hartford with about 100 persons where he
planted ye First Church in Connecticut
An Eloquent, able & Faithful Minister of Christ
He died July 7th, 1647. AETLXI
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They drave with them 160 cattle;
and subsisted on the milk of their cows, during the journey. Mrs. Hooker was carried
in a litter. This little company laid the foundation of Hartford, now a very flourishing
city in Connecticut.
Their removal was very opportune for Mr. Shepard and his company, who purchased
the dwelling-houses and lands, which they had owned at Newtown; and thus enjoyed
the advantage (which fell to the lot of few of the early colonists) of entering
a settlement already cultivated, and furnished with comfortable accommodations.
This year (1636) the General Court contemplated the erection of a Public School
at Newtown, and appropriated four hundred pounds for that purpose; which laid
the foundation of Harvard College. (27)
Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, a very extraordinary woman, commencing a religious teacher,
about this time, and holding lectures for the propagation of her peculiar tenets,
attracted a numerous audience, and gained many adherents. “The whole colony
was soon
divided into two parties,
different in sentiment, and still more alienated in affection. They stiled each
other Antinomians and Legalists.” (28) Such
was the warmth of the controversy, that it was judged advisable to call a Synod
to give their opinion on the controverted points. A Synod was accordingly holden
at Newtown on the 30th of August, 1637, at which “all the teaching elders
through the country,” and messengers of the several churches, were present.
The magistrates, too, attended as hearers, and spake occasionally, as they saw
fit. Of this Synod Mr. Shepard, who opened it with prayer, “was no small
part.” (29) After a session of three weeks,
the Synod condemned eighty-two erroneous opinions, which had become disseminated
in New England. The proceedings of this Synod appear to have been conducted with
fairness and ability. “Liberty was given to any man to dispute pro or con,
and none to be charged to be of that opinion he disputed for, unless he should
declare himselfe so to be.The clearing of the true sense and meaning of any place
of scripture, it was done by scripture.” An historian, who lived at that
period, says: “Foure sorts of persons I could with a good will have paid
their passage out, and home againe to England, that they might have been present
at this Synod, so that they would have reported the truth of all the passages
thereof to their own Colledges at their return.” These were “the Prelates”
; “the godly and reverend Presbyterian party” ; “those who with
their few stratagems have brought in so much old error” ; and “those
who derided all sorts of scholarship.” (30)
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The
Sincere Convert, a book by Thomas Shepard that is still in print.
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The vigilance of Mr. Shepard
was blest for the preservation of his own church, and of the other new-England
churches, from the Antinomian and Familistical errors, which began at this time
to prevail: “And,” according to Dr. Mather, “it was with respect
to this vigilancy, and the enlightening and powerful ministry of Mr. Shepard,
that when the foundation of a College was to be laid, Cambridge, rather than any
other place, was pitched upon to be the seat of that happy seminary.” (31)
A contemporary historian closes “the dismall yeare of sixteene hundred thirty-six,”
with the following story, illustrative, at once, of Mr. Shepard’s preaching
talents, and of the spirit of his times. A person, who had come to New-England,
“hoping to finde the powerful presence of Christ in the preaching of the
word,” was encountered, at his first landing, by some of Mrs. Hutchinson’s
disciples, who were zealous to proselyte him to their doctrine. Finding that “hee
could not skill in that new light, which was the common theame of every man’s
discourse,” he betooke himself to a narrow Indian path, which soon led him
“where none but sencelesse trees and echoing rocks make answer to his heart-easeing
monologue. After a perplexed and pathetic soliloquy, in this deep recess, he formed
a resolution “to hear some one of these able ministers preach, whom report
had so valued,” before he would “make choice of one principle,”
or “cross the broade seas back againe. Then turning his face to the sun,
he steered his course toward the next town, and after some small travell hee came
to a large plaine. No sooner was hee entred thereon, but hearing the sound of
a drum, he was directed toward it by a broade beaten way.” Following this
road, he enquired of the first person he met, what the signal of the drum meant.
The answer was, “they had as yet no bell to call men to meeting, and therefore
made use of a drum.” (32) Who lectures, said
he, at this town? “I see you are a stranger, new come over,” replied
the other, “since you know not the man. It is one Mr. Shepard.” “I
am new come over,” said the stranger, “and have been told
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American
Sermons, a current book, has two of Shepard's sermons.
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since I came, that most of
your ministers are legall preachers, onely if I mistake not they told me this
man preached a finer covenant of works than the other. However, I shall make what
haste I can to hear him. Fare you well.” Hastening to the place, he pressed
through the thickest crowd into the church, “where having stayed while the
glasse was turned up twice, the man was metamorphosed.” He was frequently
melted into tears, during the service, and overwhelmed with gratitude to God,
whose “blessed spirit caused the speech of a poore weake pale complectioned
man to take such impression in his soul.” The preacher “applied to the
word so aptly, as if hee had been his privy counseller; cleering Christs worke
of grace in the soule from all those false doctrines, which the erronious party
had afrighted him withall.” Finding that there was here not only a zeal “for
the truth of the discipline, but also of the doctrine,” of the gospel, “he
now resolves (the Lord willing) to live and die with the ministers of New England.”
(33)
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Sketch
of the Statue of John Harvard in Harvard Yard.
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Stephen
Daye Press.
First printing press in America,
brought to Cambridge from England in 1638.
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The Reverend John Harvard,
of Charlestown, in 1638, added to the sum, appropriated by the Legislature to
the public school at Newtown, about eight hundred pounds. Thus endowed, the school
was exalted to a college, and assumed the name of its principal Benefactor: and
Newtown, in compliment to the college, and in memory of the place where many of
our fathers received their education, was now denominated CAMBRIDGE.
In 1639, the first
printing press, erected in New-England, was set up at Cambridge, “by one
Daye at the charge of Mr. Glover,” who died on his passage to America. (34)
The first thing which was printed was the freeman’s oath; the next was an
almanack made for New-England by Mr. Pierce, the mariner; the next was the Psalms
newly turned into metre. (35)
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The Bay
Psalm Book
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The ecclesiastical fathers
of New-England, dissatisfied with Sternhold and Hopkins’ version of the
Psalms, then in common use, resolved on a new version. Some of the principal
Divines in the country, among whom were Mr. Welde and Mr. Eliot, of Roxbury,
and Mr. Mather of Dorchester, undertook the work. Aiming, as they well expressed
it, to have “a plain translation, rather than to smooth their verses with
sweetness of any paraphrase;” and regarding “conscience rather than
elegance, fidelity rather than poetry,” their version, it seems, was too
crude to satisfy the taste of an age, neither highly refined, nor remarkably
critical. Hence, Mr. Shepard, of Cambridge, addressed them with this monitory
verse:
“Ye Roxbury poets,
keep clear of the crime
Of missing to give us very good rhyme:
And you of Dorchester your verses lengthen,
But with the texts own words you will them strengthen.”
This Version was printed at
Cambridge in 1640: but requiring, as it was judged, “a little more art,”
it was committed to President Dunster, a great master of the oriental languages,
who, with some assistance, revised and refined it, and brought it into that state
in which the churches of New-England used it for many subsequent years. (36)
In 1639, the town ordered, that some person, chosen for the purpose, should register
every birth, marriage, and burial, and, “according to the order of the Court,
in that case provided, give it in once evrie yeare to be delivered by the deputies
to the Recorder.”
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Town Records.
Left: William Spencer, town clerk from 1632-1635. Right: Thomas Danforth,
town clerk from 1645-1668
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In 1641, (Dec. 13) the town chose two men, whom they directed to “take care
for the making of the towne spring, against Mr. Dunster’s house, a sufficient
well, with timber and stone fit for the use of man, wattering of cattel.”
(37)
In 1642, according to an order of the last General Court, “for the townsmen
to see to the educating children,” the town was divided into six parts, and
a person appointed for each division, “to take care of all the families”
it contained.
The first Commencement was holden at Cambridge in 1642, at which time nine Students
took the degree of Bachelor of Arts. (38) “They
were young men of good hope, and performed their acts so as gave good proof of
their proficiency in tongues and arts.” (39)
Most of the members of the General Court were now present; “and dined at
the college with the scholars ordinary commons; which was done on purpose for
the students encouragement—and it gave good content to all.” (40)
In 1643, the General Court,—which had previously committed the government
of the College to all the magistrates, and the ministers of the three nearest
churches, with the president,— passed an act for the well ordering and managing
of Harvard College, by which all the magistrates, and the teaching elders of the
six nearest towns, [Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, and Dorchester]
and the president for the time being, were appointed to be forever governors of
this Seminary. They met at Cambridge, for the first time, by virtue of this Act,
on the 27th of December, 1643, “considered of the officers of the college,
and chose a treasurer.” (41)
How early the Grammar School was established at Cambridge does not appear: but
it seems to have been nearly coeval with the town, and to have been an object
of great care and attention. As early as 1643, a writer observes: “By the
side of the Colledge is a faire Grammar Schoole, for the training up of young
schollars, and fitting of them for Academical learning, that still as they are
judged ripe, they may be received, into the Colledge of this schoole: Master Corlet
is the Mr. who hath very well approved himself for his abilities, dexterity and
painfulnesse in teaching and education of the youths under him.”(42)
This school, some years after, received a liberal donation from Edward Hopkins,
(43) Esquire, Governor of Connecticut, who died
in England, in 1657. This charitable pious man gave, by his last will, the principal
part of his estate to his father-in-law, Theophilus Eaton, Esquire, and others,
“in full assurance of their trust and faithfulness in disposing of it, according
to” his “true intent and purpose.” This purpose is declared to
be, “to give some encouragement in those Foreign Plantations, for the breeding
up of hopeful Youth in a way of learning both at the Grammar School and College,
for the public service of the Country in future times.” Five hundred pounds
of his estate in England, appropriated to the college and grammar school in Cambridge,
were laid out in real estate in the town of Hopkinton, and now constitute a respectable
fund. Three fourths of the income of this estate are applied, according to the
instruction of the will of the donor, to the maintenance of the five resident
Bachelors of arts, at Harvard College, and the other fourth “to the Master
of Cambridge Grammar School, in consideration of his instructing in Grammar Learning
five boys, (44) nominated by the President and Fellows
of Harvard College, and the Minister of Cambridge for the time being, who are,
by the Will, constituted “Visitors of the said School.” They make an
annual visitation, the week before the commencement, “to see that so many
children are taught,” and that they “give proof of their proficiency
in learning.” Two shillings on the pound, or a tenth part as much as each
Bachelor receives, is applied to “buy books and reward the industry of such
under-graduates, as distinguish themselves by their application to their studies.”
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Portrait
of John Eliot
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John Eliot
preaching to the Indians.
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In 1644, Mr. Daniel Gookin
removed from Virginia, with his family, and settled at Cambridge; “being
drawn hither by having his affection strongly set on the truths of Christ and
his pure ordinances.” (45) His arrival was
very opportune for the Reverend Mr. Eliot, the Indian apostle, who was now preparing
himself for his great work of evangelizing the Indians. Mr. Gookin, animated with
an apostolical zeal for the promotion of this pious design, vigorously co-operated
with Mr. Eliot, in its execution. He himself informs us, (46)
that Mr. Eliot “was his neighbour, and intimate friend, at the time when
he first attempted this enterprize,” and communicated to him his design.
In Mr. Eliot’s evangelizing visits to the Indians, Mr. Gookin so often accompanied
him, that he is said to have been “his constant, pious and persevering companion.”
(47) In 1646, Mr. Eliot, having acquired a knowledge
of the Indian language, began to preach to the Indians at Nonantum, then lying
within the limits of Cambridge. From this time, for many years afterward, great
pains were taken, and large sums expended, to educate Indian youth for the ministry.
Several were maintained, a number of years, at the grammar school, with a view
to the completion of their education at the college in Cambridge. Such, at this
early period, was the zeal of our pious ancestors for the christianization of
the Indians, and so sanguine were their hopes of rendering the Indian youth auxiliary
to the design, that, in 1665, a brick edifice, 30 feet long, and 20 feet broad,
was erected at Cambridge, for an Indian College. Several Indians entered college,
of whom, however, one (48) only ever attained the
academical honours. “The design,” says Mr. Gookin, “was prudent,
noble, and good; but it proved ineffectual.. The awful providences of God, in
frustrating the hopeful expectations concerning the learned Indian youth, who
were designed to be for teachers unto their countrymen,” are noticed, with
great sensibility, by this historian, (49) who,
amidst all discouragements, retained his zeal for the promotion of this pious
design, till the very close of his life.
A Bill having been preferred to the General Court in 1646,. for the calling of
a Synod, for the purpose of composing and publishing a platform of church-discipline,
a “motion” was made by the Court to the churches, to assemble such a
synod. It was, accordingly, convened at Cambridge that year, and protracted its
session, by adjournments, till 1648. This synod composed and adopted the Platform
of Church-Discipline, called, “The Cambridge Platform,” which, together
with the Westminster Confession of Faith, it recommended to the General Court,
and to the churches. The churches of New-England, in general, acceded to this
platform for more than thirty years: and it was recognized and confirmed by a
synod at Boston, in 1679. (50)
The thriving state of the herds, (51) belonging
to this town, together with the confidence reposed in Waban (52)
(an influential Indian, recently converted to christianity by the apostolic Eliot)
appear in the following compact, dated April 12, 1647: “Bargained with Waban,
the Indian, for to keepe about six score heade of dry cattle on the south side
of the Charles River, and he is to have the full some of eight pound, to be paid
as followeth, viz. 30s to James Cutler, and the rest in Indian corne at 3 sh.
bushel, after micheltide next. He is to bargain to take care of them the 21 day
of this present month, and to keepe them untill 3 weeks after michelmas: and if
any be lost or ill, he is to send word unto the towne, and if any shall be lost
through his carelessness he is to pay according to the value of the beast for
his defect.
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Waban" |
In 1648, “it was agreed, at a generall meeting, when the whole towne had
special warneing to meete for the disposeing of Shawshine, that there should be
a farme layde out, of a thousand acres, to be for a publick stocke, and improved
for the good of the Church, and that part of the Church that shall continue; and
every person of persons, that shall from time to time remove from the Church doe
hereby resigne up theire interest therein to the remaineing part of the Church
of Cambridge.” (53)
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The Second
Meetinghouse,
in a conjectural view of Cambridge in about 1660
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The same year, it was ordered, “That there shall be an eight peny ordnary
provided for the Townsmen [Selectmen] every second munday of the month upon there
meeteing day; and that whosoever of the Townsmen faile to be present within half
an houre of the ringing of the bell (which shall be half an houre after eleven
of the clocke) he shall both lose his dinner, and pay a pint of sacke, or that
value, to the present Townsmen.”
Among the town-officers for the following year, three commissioners were chosen,
“to end small causes under forty shillings.”
Mr. Shepard died in 1649, and was succeeded in the ministry by the Reverend Jonathan
Mitchel. In the interval between Mr. Shepard’s death, and Mr. Mitchel’s
ordination, the pulpit was supplied by President Dunster, and Mr. Richard Lyon,
who lived at the President’s in the capacity of a private tutor to an English
student.
A vote of the town to repair the old church “with a 4 square roofe, and covered
with shingle,” passed February 18, 1650, was rescinded, in March; and the
committee, now ordered to “desist from repairing” the old house, was
instructed to “agree with workmen of the building of a new house, about forty
foot square, and covered as was formerly agreed for the other. It was also then
voted, and generally agreed, that the new meeting-house shall stand on the Watch
house hill.” This is believed to be the hill on which the present congregational
church stands. The second church was, doubtless, erected about this time; for,
in February, 1651, the town voted, “That the Townsmen shall make sale of
the land whereon the old meeting house stood.”
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Cambridge, Massachusetts
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